Adjustable seat-rail for vehicles



(No Model.)

G. W. STIMPSON & J'. B. NEEDHAM.

ADJUSTABLE SEAT RAIL FOR VEHIGLES..

Patented Oct. 18,1881.

N. PUERS. Photo-Lithographer. Washinglnn. an

INITED STATES PATENT Onmciet GEORGE W. STIMPSON AND JAMES B. NEEDHAM, OF SAN FRANCISCO,

CALIFORNIA.

ADJUSTABLE SEAT-RAIL FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 248,363, dated October 18, 1881.

Application filed May 20, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE W. STIMP- sort and J. BENJAMIN NEEDHAM, of the city and county of San Francisco, in the State of California, have made and invented a new and useful Adjustable Seat-Rail for Vehicles, of which the following; is a full and complete specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanyin g drawings.

The object of our invention is to provide carriage and wagon makers with a seat-rail which they can apply to any size of seat, and thereby avoid the expense and labor of making special rails for difierent lengths of seats.

The improvement which constitutes our invention consists in making the side irons and the back part of the rail in separate pieces or sections, which can be readily put together and adjusted to form an adjustable rail for any size of seat. The same can be readily applied without the extra labor and trouble of working out or altering rails to suit any special length of seat, and they can be supplied in a condition to be used by the trade on any size of vehicle-seat at a reduced cost, and ready to be attached in place without requiring special alteration and adjustment.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown in Figure 1 the application of our improved rail to a buggy-seat, and in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 the parts of the rail in detail, and the means for securing it in position on the seat.

We make the side irons, A A, of the usual shape and size; but instead of forming them in one piece with the back B we make the latter piece a separate and independent part, to have the side pieces, A, secured to it when the rail is fixed in place on the seat. The same size of side irons, A, can be employed with different lengths of back-rails, so that the sides A can be worked out of uniform size; but the backs can be furnished with them of several graduated lengths, according to the standard lengths of vehicle-seats.

Manufacturers can readily adapt this rail to any length of seat by simply changing or regulatin g the length of the back-piece B, and then joining and securing the side pieces, A, to it.

' While the sides A are worked out of wrought-iron, the backs B may be made of malleable iron, to reduce the cost of manufacture or the back, beinga simple straight piece of metal, can be easily and quickly worked out of wrought metal by wagon-makers, if they so prefer, and made longer or shorter, according to the length of rail required for a particular size of seat. To join and firmly unite these parts together, we carry the ends of the side irons, A, at the corners around to the back a suflicient distance to give a length for a rabbet, a, at each corner, and then we provide a similar rabbet, b, at each end of the back B, so that the adjacent ends, when placed together, shall properly overlap and form a close, smooth, and strongjoint, and then, by means together. These screws may be provided with heads to serve as buttons for the side leathers when the rail is applied to a vehicle with a top and curtains.

The rail is secured and supported in place around the seat by the small uprights D D, through which the bolts 0 pass and are carried through into the rail above. These bolts work through slots f in the ends of the upright irons D, so as to permit the rail to be adjusted and set out more or less from the side of the scatbody, as may be desired.

Such rails can be supplied to the trade in a form and condition to be directly applied to the several regular sizes of seats, as well as to anyspecial sizes thatmakers may becalled upon to turn out, and the time and labor now required to work up or alter a rail for a special application, or for use in repairing vehicles, are dispensed with.

We are aware that scat-rails for vehicles have been made before our invention with tubular angle-couplings for uniting the side and back rails; also, that side rails have been rabbeted to wood backs. Such devices we do not claim.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A seat-rail for vehicles formed of the angular side and back rails rabbeted and adjustably connected, in combination with supports, which are slotted to allow of said adjustment, and with the adjustable fastenings e, substantially as described.

Witness our hands and seals.

GEORGE W. STIMPSON. [L. s.] JAMES B. NEEDHAM. [L. s.]

In presence of-- EDWARD E. OSBORN, W. F. CLARK.

of small screws or bolts 0, we secure the parts 

